Heavy selling pressure towards the end saw the Sensex slide to a low of 9714, and closed with a loss of 101 points at 9743.
The Nifty closed at 2,941, down 27 points.
HDFC led the fall with a loss of over 4% at Rs 1,305.
Wipro shed 2.2% to Rs 516. ACC, ITC and ONGC, too, dropped 2% each to Rs 581, Rs 153 and Rs 1,162, respectively.
Infosys declined 1.7% to Rs 2,787. Reliance slipped 1.6% to Rs 697. Reliance Energy was down 1% at Rs 598.
Cipla, Dr.Reddy's, Hero Honda, HLL, Hindalco, ICICI Bank and Larsen & Toubro also ended with substantial losses.
NTPC surged 2.4% to Rs 118. Tata Power, Tata Motors and Grasim added nearly 2% each to Rs 483, Rs 718 and Rs 1,526, respectively.
Bharti Tele up 1% at Rs 368 was the only other notable gainer among the Sensex stocks today.